Trouble at Dumfries
by Book girl fan
Summary: An officer at Dumfries has a rather surprising encounter. AKA, how does a cat summon the police?


"Hallo, what's this?" The police officer looked down to see a little ginger cat twining around his legs. "What do you want, little guy?" He reached down to pet the cat, but it quickly darted away to a spot just outside his reach. It then sat down and started meowing at him. "Not a touchy type, huh? That's okay, little guy. I'll leave you alone."

He began to walk his beat again, but within a few steps the ginger cat was under his feet, seemingly determined to trip him up. Just as before, as soon as he tried to pet it, it darted out of his reach and back to the same spot it had sat in before. "For a cat that doesn't like touching, you sure keep getting close."

The cat meowed at him. It started to walk away, but when he didn't follow, it came back and sat down again. Somehow, he got the feeling it wanted him to follow.

He stared at the cat, and the cat stared back. He really should be back on his patrol. Even on a quiet night, you never knew what could happen, and his commanding officer would not be impressed to find out he'd been distracted by a ginger cat that would not leave him alone.

On the other hand, the cat seemed pretty determined, and he had a soft spot for animals. It probably just had a friend stuck somewhere that it wanted him to set free, or something like that. He'd be back on his beat in no time.

"Alright, little fellow. Lead the way." He followed the cat through the town, winding around darkened houses and quiet streets, until they came to train station just outside of town, where a train was sitting on the tracks. The midnight rail. It must be delayed tonight, he thought, it was usually gone by this hour.

The cat was quick to go inside, but when he didn't follow, it came back to the train door and stared at him. He could almost hear it asking him why he wouldn't just come in.

"I can't come in there, buddy. I can't go in unless I know there's something wrong."

The cat blinked at him, then turned and disappeared inside.

He waited a moment to see if it would come back, then started to leave. He really shouldn't have followed the cat in the first place. It probably just wanted some company on its walk home, and he'd let himself get distracted by following it. Still, he couldn't really regret it. The ginger cat had looked so determined in its little vest.

A loud shout came from inside the train. "Argh! Get that thing off me!'

A child screamed.

He rushed into the train, baton at the ready. "What's going on here?"

The man looked up and him and tried to run, but the cat was in front of him and tripped him, causing him to fall flat on his face. A child was huddled in the seat nearby, looking up at the man in terror. "He was g-going to hurt me!" she sobbed. "And he took my teddy!" The other passengers seemed equally terrified, muttering about hostages and how good it was to see a police officer.

The officer pulled the man upright, recognising him immediately. "Why, that's Jack Moocher! Bit of a step down, isn't it, robbing banks to robbing little girls' teddies?" Moocher just growled at him. "Don't worry, I'm sure your friends in prison will love to hear all about it. Especially the part where you were caught by a cat."

"A cat?" A man dressed in the uniform of a railway guard stood in the back of the carriage. "Skimbleshanks! That's where you got to!" The ginger cat went over to him and purred, winding around his legs. The guard reached down to pet him. "You may have just saved all our lives, Skimble." He looked up at the officer. "The man boarded at the station here and demanded us to take him to Gallowgate, after he'd checked through the train to make sure there were no police on board. When Skimble disappeared I thought he'd done something to him."

The officer chuckled. "No, your cat here came to get me. What did you say his name was?"

The guard scooped up the ginger cat, running a fond finger over the little vest. "This here is Skimbleshanks, the Railway Cat. Without him, the Night Mail just couldn't go."


End file.
